Israel’s High Court of Justice has offered a short-term compromise on
the haredi draft that, if accepted, will see haredim postponing their
now-mandatory military service for what could be months – or could be years.
High Court Offers Temporary Compromise On Haredi Draft
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Israel’s High Court of Justice has offered a short-term compromise on
the haredi draft that, if accepted, will see haredim postponing their
now-mandatory military service for what could be months – or could be years.
After hearing a complaint today from the religious freedom advocacy organization Hiddush, which filed suit after the IDF – on the orders of the Likud Party member (and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ally) Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon – the High Court decided to allow hundreds of haredim who were drafted and who must by law report to IDF induction centers this month to delay their now-mandatory IDF service if the complainants agree, Arutz Sheva reported.
Eighteen months ago, the High Court struck down a law that allowed haredi full-time yeshiva students to indefinitely defer military service, noting that the draft must be equally applied. University students and Zionist-Orthodox yeshiva students all must serve in the IDF and cannot use their studies to defer their military service.
Even so, haredim have not been drafted, mostly due to a series of stalling tactics employed by Netanyahu, who is desperately trying to appease his haredi allies and prevent them from forming a government with the opposition after the next election.
Hiddush sued to require the haredim who have already received draft notices to actually serve in the IDF.
The nine High Court justices who heard the case proposed a compromise: The enlistment of those haredim will be deferred as the government wants, but that delay will not count as part of their military service, which means they will have to serve a full 3-year hitch on the IDF later when they actually are inducted.
“We’re worried that the real meaning of this proposal is not compromise, but a delay until the Knesset passes the Perry law [(the new draft law), which] as the public is beginning to understand, is a law with no equality in the sharing of the [defense] burden,” Deputy Director-General of Hiddush Shachar Ilan reportedly said.
The government’s proposed draft bill delays all haredi mandatory military service for several years, and has built-in perks and other accommodations that ensure haredim, if they ever are drafted and inducted, will have a brief and relatively pain-free IDF experience while regular Israelis serve much longer and far more demanding stints in the military. It also exempts 1,800 young haredi “scholars” from the draft entirely – a perk not given to any Zionist Orthodox or secular students no matter how bright they may be.
The Movement for Quality Government also expressed outrage at Ya'alon and Likud.
“Once again, we are witness to the fact that the Minister of Defense is refusing to fulfill the explicit instructions of the law and of ethical [conduct] that obligates the prevention of discrimination between one person and another, and [is not] drafting those who are obligated to enlist.
“Once again the Movement for Quality Government, and the entire Israeli public, is facing an unbearable injury to the values of democracy upon which the State of Israel rests, including the principles of the rule of law, equality, and the separation of powers, as the Minister of Defense allows himself the freedom once again to take decisions that he is not authorized to make,” it reportedly said in a statement.